Open letter to Mr. Rex Parris

By your own statements, the city of Santa Clarita is comprised of one-third registered Latino voters. With the low voter turnout we typically see in elections for City Council, any group that has one-third of the registered voters can easily control the election by sheer numbers alone.

My next question, Mr. Parris is: Do you really believe that one-third of our population lives in what could be one district? I can assure you that the demographics of the city show Latinos spread throughout.

As it stands, we have five City Council members we can vote for. That means when we come before the City Council, all five council members know we are voters who can vote for or against them in the next election.

If we have districts, we are limited to only one council member. That means our vote has been reduced to one-fifth of our current voting power.

With districts, the council members would be pitted against one another. They would focus on what’s best for their district, as opposed to what’s best for the city at large.

We became a city because we wanted our tax dollars to stay in our area and have representation that we could address locally. Since we have been a city, we have had expansion of our parks and recreation facilities, beautification of our streets and communities, improved police and fire, improved roads and transportation, and reasonable budgets that are on time.

Our city has received numerous awards for being one of the better cities in the nation.

Mr. Parris, my city is not broken; please stop trying to fix it. You’re the mayor of Lancaster, not Santa Clarita. Fix your own city and leave mine alone.